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Culture Fusion and Bradford Beck, CSC All Ages

We kicked off our CSC All Ages at home, working with BEES conservation volunteers, YMCA Staff and young people from Y's Up to seed the first floor urban wildflower meadow and plant trees in planters on the perimeter of the meadow.

In addition to developing the meadow we have also undertaken a few other activities to develop interest in the area and make improvements to public spaces.

On May 15th we spent the morning hanging out in the car park next to Culture Fusion. As well as completing a good number of Community Surveys, we also did some litter picking and attempted some bird watching. Since we moved into Culture Fusion we have seen quite a few species of birds including grey wagtails, blue tits, great tits, dunnocks, mallards, a kingfisher and a heron. But, unfortunately, on this freezing cold morning we did not see much.

We have received permission from Bradford Council to plant on the area adjacent to the car park. Through the winter this was just a muddy slope but over the past few months this has turned into a bit of a meadow with a nice flush of colour provided by the poppies. We want to build on this with a mixture of wild flowers and some plants that will give winter interest. On Friday 3rd August we made a start when young people from CF playscheme and BEES conservation volunteers planted ceanothus, verbena, achillia, lavender, honeysuckle, marigolds and nicotiana. Another team were working hard in the workshop on the planters that are being made from the old floor boards in 125 Thornton Road.

We have also got involved with The Bradford Beck Project, managed by Aire Rivers Trust. We have trained up as water sampling volunteers, and will be collecting samples from the beck every two to three weeks until February. The water is being analyised at Sheffield University. We are one of 19 or 20 sample points that will be used to build up the most thorough picture of water quality of Bradford Beck that has been gathered. Please let us know if you wish to find out more about this and learning the high tech sampling technique (a bucket on a rope!).

As part of the Bradford Beck project we helped out with a litter clearance initiative adjacent to the beck at the Shipley end of Valley Road. Read an update here.